Phoenix Violet had only been gone for maybe two minutes when I hear her startled cry. I freeze for a moment, scared of who might have found her, who I’ll have to face to guarantee her safety. I run off in her direction. My eyes widen as I see my sister, Beatrix, pin her to the ground as she tauntingly says, “Well, well, well, if isn’t Penelope Fox’s daughter, the new white wolf. Looks like she got caught in the wolf’s den.” I watch as Violet’s blue eyes flicker around, panicked, and finally, her gaze lands on me. Disappointment fills her eyes and her jaw hardens as she silently questions if I’m apart of this. My jaw dropped, I want to mouth to her and tell her that I didn’t know, but I can’t bring my mouth to move. She has to know that I would never capture her like this. If I wanted to capture her then I would’ve done it a long time ago. Beatrix suddenly turns to me with a wide smile as she triumphantly says, “Do you see this?!” One thing I know about my sister is that often times
VioletIt takes longer than I would’ve liked it to to get back home. I’m breathing heavily, my chest heaving and lungs burning as I finally have a moment to rest. But I see Magnolia outside on her hands and knees and I can hear her sobs from here.No time to rest, I jog over to her and kneel beside Cora and Charlie. Charlie looks at me curiously, wondering where I could’ve been and Magnolia looks up at me and through clenched teeth she seethes, “Where have you been?”I shake my head and say, “It doesn’t matter right now, MJ. Let’s focus on you.”She looks back down, panting, and groans out, “Why does this have to be so painful and last so long?”Out of the corner of my eye I see Cora looking at me. I glanced at her and I can see the worry in her face as she sees all of the dirt stains covering my clothes and the bit of blood on my forehead that is almost fully covered by my hairline. The blood has now dried up and I know it’s nothing big for me to worry about.I look back at Magnolia
VioletAda and Selene run around in circles. Once Ada knew the path to take she took charge, running as fast as she could, but each step she took was much larger than what Selene could do. Selene did the best she could to keep up, but I could feel the little bit of irritation that she felt that she had to push herself so hard to just keep pace with Ada.Ada is quite and very set in her mind on the way she feels with things. I notice that she avoids the topic of mates and being an Alpha. Both of those things are complicated for Magnolia so it doesn’t surprise me that Ada doesn’t want to talk about it either. I notice the burning in our legs and I murmur softly to Selene, “Maybe you should take a break.”She growls through the link she has with me in response. She doesn’t want to admit that she can’t keep up with Ada. And, as if the universe knew that she needed to slow down, out of nowhere- a pitch black wolf appears.Ada lets out a loud warning growl and gets into a defensive stance,
VioletPhoenix’s eyes flicker around as if he’s trying to figure out where we are and if he’s ever been here before. His eyes meet mine and he asks, “Where are we?”I can’t risk giving away our location. He can’t know about Cora, not yet. I answer simply, “Somewhere safe.”He snorts in response and says, “Thanks Sherlock.”The corner of my lip tugs up into a smirk. I like being around Phoenix, we always have good banter. I open my mouth to say something until I hear the crunch of leaves. I turn and see Magnolia stalking toward us. She now wears a simple sundress and she carries clothes in her hands. There’s a small pout on her face and she tosses a pair of shorts to Phoenix and hands me a giant shirt and she glances back at Phoenix as she questions, “I assume this is your mate.”There’s hatred burning in her eyes and I know she is not at all pleased with this turn of events. I’m sure she never expected that my mate would be Xavier Black’s son. I never expected it either.My eyes wide
VioletPhoenix stares at me for a long time after I told him that he is not his curse. It’s true, he’s not, he’s so much more than that, but he can’t see it. All he can see is the destruction he’s capable of if he allows his temper to go too far.I stare back into his hazel eyes, focusing on the bright green circle around the pupil. He clears his throat, his eyes breaking away from mine before they roam down my body. His eyes flicker back to mine and I can feel heat rushing to my cheeks after seeing the way he looks at me with such longing, such… lust. Then, he breaks the ice by asking, “Was that a tattoo I saw on your hip?”My cheeks turn a deeper red, knowing how intimately he saw me. I slowly nod my head and say, “Yeah, it was.”His head tilts to the side, his eyes looking at my hip that’s now covered by a black t-shirt. He asks, “Does it mean anything? All I really saw was a glimpse of black.”It feels like there’s cotton in my mouth and I don’t know how to tell him what it is he
VioletIt takes me an hour to get back to Cora’s house. At some point I thought Phoenix would chase after me. I try to ignore the pain in my heart knowing that he didn’t try harder for me. Knowing that his feelings don’t run as deep as mine do.Stupid mate bond. Selene whimpers from my thoughts but I don’t care. There was a time… before I turned 18 that I thought maybe once Xavier was dead then I would be able to find my mate and live a happy life.But knowing now who my mate is… it’s a lost cause.That thought alone is enough to make me want to fall to my knees and weep. Weep over the life I will not be able to have.But, I pushed through, forcing myself to keep heading back to Cora’s home.I hoped that the walk would help me feel better, but it doesn’t. I feel guilty for not going back to Phoenix whenever he had called for me. But… if he had cared enough then he would’ve followed, wouldn’t he?And he didn’t.With a heavy sigh, I walk inside, everything is dark and I assume everyone
VioletThe next morning comes way too fast. I’m dreading being around Magnolia after last night. Guilt still resides inside me and it’s so heavy that it makes me feel nauseous.I took things too far, that was my fault, but she was ignoring me and pushing both me and my wolf. I needed her to stop and… I regret it.I walk out of my room to the dining room and the moment my eyes meet Magnolia I can feel the tension in the room. She stares at me for a moment before putting her dishes in the sink and walking out the door without saying anything. Cora looks up at me with confusion shining in her eyes and Charlie asks, “What just happened?”Cora murmurs, “I’m wondering the same thing.”I breathe out through my nose as I walk over and scoop myself some oatmeal and pour myself a cup of tea. Cora’s questioning voice says my name, “Violet?”I turn back to her and she asks, “What’s going on?”My eyes flicker between her and Charlie and I shake my head and say, “It’s nothing, really. We got into
VioletIt’s going to take me hours to get to Phoenix tonight.After mine and Magnolia’s fight and make up, Cora let us back inside. There we ate and talked and laughed with Cora and Charlie. Charlie suggested we watch a movie. Magnolia met my eyes and told him she was happy to but she thought that I had something else to do.She’s not wrong. It’ll take me a couple hours to get to Phoenix, maybe longer just because I’m dreading seeing him after last night.So, I leave and shift into my wolf, carrying a dress with me as I run out to find Phoenix.He’s closer than he normally is. He knew what direction I was in so he tried to set up camp closer. He’s an hour closer to me than he should’ve been.I appreciate the effort, but it makes me feel nauseous. I’m sure he can smell my scent by now so I can’t postpone seeing him.I shift and throw on my dress before walking through the bushes and seeing him. He sits by the fire and his head lifts up to look at me. His hazel eyes practically glowing